The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on
Monday ruled that the status quo in the House of
Representatives should be maintained, with Aminu
Tambuwal still Speaker.
The ruling means that the embattled House of
Representatives Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal,
will remain Speaker until the House reconvenes
on December 3.
The court also ruled that the Speaker could not
be removed and that the House could not
reconvene until the said December 3 date.
Hearing on the substantive case will resume on
Friday.
APC Lawmakers Lawsuit
Opposition lawmakers in the House of
Representatives filed a lawsuit seeking to stop an
alleged plan by the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party to re-convene before the adjourn date of
December 3.
The lawmakers had asked the court to “make a
declaration that only the speaker can issue a
directive to re-convene the House and any other
attempt is illegal and unconstitutional”.
The issues presented by the lawmakers for the
courts determination also include; whether in view
of section 60 of the 1999 constitution and rules
18 of the House standing order the House of
Representative can be re-convened without the
express application to the speaker.
They also asked if the House could be re-
convened without the speaker of the House of
Representative expressly directing the clerk of the
House to give notice of such re-assembly
of members.
Others are whether the House can be re-convened
by any other principal officer of the House of
representative without recourse to the speaker.
Counsel to the All Progressives Congress
lawmakers, Mr Mahmud Magaji, told reporters
that the lawmakers also sought “a declaration
that the House of Representative cannot be
reconvened without recourse to the speaker and
an express directive by him to the clerk of the
house to do same.
“They also asked for an order of mandatory
injunction restraining anyone from reconvening
the House of Representatives on an earlier date
in defiance to the December 3 when plenary was
formally adjourned”.
Do The Needful
After Tambuwal’s defected to the All Progressives
Congress from the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) on October 28, the PDP had advised him to
do the needful – vacate the seat of the speaker
of the House of Representatives.
Days after his defection, security personnel
attached to him were withdrawn by the Inspector
General of Police , who cited section 68 sub
section 1(g) of the Nigerian Constitution.
Part of a statement by the police read, “…having
regard to the clear provision of section 68(1)(g)
of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force
(NPF) has redeployed its personnel attached to
his office.”
After the withdrawal of the security personnel, the
All Progressive Congress and Tambuwal took the
Federal Government, the police and the PDP
amongst others to court to challenge the decision
to remove his security aides, insisting that it was
an attempt to harm him.
The court’s Monday ruling means that tambuwal
still remains the speaker of the House of
Representatives, which implies he should still
enjoy all benefits attached to the position.
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